104. The Ancient Gods Are About to Descend
In ancient times, humanity was not the ruler of this world.
Humanity was incredibly weak. So weak that they were like dust, like insects, at the mercy of other, inherently powerful, extraordinary races.
"That era was one where dragons soared through the skies, Titans traversed the earth, monsters whispered in the abyss, and forest fairies danced. That world was an era dominated by extraordinary beings."
And among these terrifying races, there were always a few individuals who transcended the limits of mortal understanding.
They were like stars fallen from a higher dimension. They were completely different from their kind, beings of a higher level of existence in terms of the essence of life. They were the rulers of their race, the embodiment of the race's will, the very laws governing the world.
They were—the Ancient Gods.
You cannot utter their names. Because they will cast their gaze upon you once you call their name, and you cannot bear their gaze.
You cannot look directly at their bodies, because there is a difference in your life level.
You cannot listen to their language will cause you to breaking down.
You cannot touch their bodies will causing you to assimilate.
They have vanished into the torrent of history, but they will never truly die, as long as someone still remembers them, they will never die.
"This is all I know about the Ancient God from the church texts," Karina explained, trying to keep her gaze away from the massive body in the center of the lake.
After listening to the information from Karina, Xiling asked, "I understand, but how do I deal with that thing? Just cut it down with a sword?"
Karina quickly waved her hand. She was genuinely frightened by Xiling's suggestion. While Xiling's actions of revealing the entire lake hadn't seemed like much to her, Xiling's ability to face the ancient god without any apparent harm was terrifying enough. Her intuition told her that Xiling might indeed be able to deal with the corpse, but that was absolutely impossible!
"We'd better not touch that thing, because I read in the texts that the death of an ancient god causes immense disaster to the surrounding area."
"Then let's notify the Magic Society," Doguo suggested, scratching his head.
"Indeed, Doguo is right," Reinhardt agreed.
"The Magic Society definitely knows how to deal with this thing; after all, they know everything."
Reinhardt spoke this sentence with a strange tone.
Xiling gave him a strange look but said nothing about it.
He seemed to have some dissatisfaction with the Magic Society, but every organization has its discontents; that's normal.
Just as everyone was afraid to look at the corpse in the center of the lake, Xiling was about to turn around and take a couple of photos of it to send to the chat group to scare those guys, but when he turned around and he unexpectedly saw Aaron staring intently at the ancient god's corpse in a corner, without showing any unusual reaction.
Xiling raised an eyebrow and walked over to him.
"That thing is so disgusting. Why are you staring at it like that? Aren't you afraid you won't be able to eat tonight because of it?"
Aaron seemed to snap out of his reverie when he heard Xiling's voice.
"It's alright, I've seen far more disgusting scenes, this is nothing."
"Okay, you win," Xiling gave him a thumbs up, then continued, "So, what are you thinking about?"
Aaron shook his head, his brows furrowing slightly. His gaze returned to the corpse, but this time it was filled with obvious doubt and contemplation:
"No… I'm thinking, we've found the source of the contamination. But where are the people? Those tens of thousands of living people in Moonlight Town, where did they all go?"
Xiling followed his gaze to the massive, twisted corpse, his tone stating an obvious fact:
"Perhaps… in another world."
Hearing this, Aaron said irritably, "Hey, don't joke like that!"
Xiling smiled, changing the subject.
"So, what's wrong with you? That corpse seems perfectly fine."
Aaron himself seemed puzzled. He looked down at his hands, then up at the corpse radiating an invisible pressure, his brow furrowing deeper.
"I don't know, but I just don't feel anything special about it. No nausea, no dizziness, no auditory hallucinations… It's like… looking at a particularly ugly stone?"
Xiling, seeing that he was also pondering this question, patted him on the shoulder.
"Don't overthink it. After all, these are just old stories; who knows how much is true and how much is false? Maybe it's some kind of spiritual power or physics, the judgment is hard to say."
As if influenced by Xiling's relaxed demeanor, Aaron smiled.
"You're right. There's no point in worrying about this now."
"Alright, I'll be going now." Xiling withdrew and waved his hand.
"I still need to look around and see if there are any other clues. Tens of thousands of people suddenly disappear like that… they must have left some traces, right?"
Xiling turned and walked in another direction from the lake basin.
As he walked, Xiling pondered a question:
Where had all those tens of thousands of people gone to? Dead? No, definitely not dead! It was more like they weren't even in this world! Just like Kingu and Gorgon, who had disappeared before, they had left this world.
Xiling's intuition told him that the clues were in the town, but his magic perception had thoroughly searched the entire Moonlight Town and its surrounding area again and again.
Every room, every alleyway—there was no unusual energy residue, no trace of large-scale teleportation or spatial folding, and certainly no residual life energy that should have been present after the mass death of tens of thousands of people.
"Where exactly are they?"
Xiling walked, thinking, while also looking at the enormous corpse in the center of the lake.
—
In an old-fashioned room, a round table stood, with seven different chairs occupied by men and women, and one chair empty. No one spoke, as if waiting for the person holding the meeting to speak first. However, before anyone could speak, a voice shattered the silence.
A blond man seemingly accidentally dropped his glass, making a loud clatter.
Seeing everyone's gaze fall on him, the man gave an apologetic smile.
"Sorry, everyone, it was a slip of the hand."
The crowd seemed to believe him and looked away.
But a thought simultaneously crossed everyone's minds.
Who would believe that?
A tier 1 superhuman, unable to hold a glass properly? One of the funniest jokes of the year.
He must have messed something up; otherwise, he wouldn't have reacted so strongly.
The blond man didn't pick up the glass; instead, his gaze fell on the empty table, but his mind was racing.
"Damn it! Why was my spell broken?! Who could it be?!"
The man wanted to turn around and leave the meeting immediately, rushing to Moonshadow Lake, but reason prevailed. Even if he rushed there now, it would be too late. He might as well calm down and wait for another piece of information to be revealed during the meeting.
Just then, a ripple appeared in the space, and a handsome man with black hair streaked with white appeared out of thin air. After nodding to everyone, he took his seat.
After taking his seat, the man spoke, "It's been a long time, everyone. How have you been?"
At that moment, a voice came from a long bench with a clock pattern among the seven chairs.
"If that's what you're here to say, then I'm leaving. Although I have plenty of time, it doesn't mean I like wasting it."
If Xiling were here, he would definitely recognize the person who spoke these words as the one he had first interacted with when she entered this world.
Vivian, whom the Lord of War, Phil, called the Time Witch.
"I apologize for any inconvenience caused, Ms. Vivian," the man said, bowing slightly to the empty chair.
Then, he turned his gaze back to the crowd.
"So, everyone, I'll get straight to the point and tell you why I've gathered you all here."
Amidst seven pairs of gazes—one of doubt, one of anticipation, one of curiosity, one of indifference, one of disinterest, one of drowsiness, and one of premonition—the man uttered a few words that would shake the entire world:
"The three Ancient Gods are about to return in their full glory!"
"Wh...what!" Everyone except the Time Witch looked on in shock.
"Xia Yin, you're not joking around, are you!?" a woman asked incredulously.
Three Ancient Gods, let alone three, even just one—if they were to return, the entire world would be thrown into chaos.
However, the man called Xia Yin nodded with absolute certainty.
The return of the Ancient Gods was inevitable.
It was one of the fundamental logics of this world.
Even if they perished and they could wait for their next return.
The task of granting annihilation to the Ancient Gods was passed down through generations of those who held this council.
"These are my observations: three Ancient Gods are about to descend."
"And the location of the first Ancient God's descent?"
Shain looked at the blond man.
"It's Moonlight Town."
The blond man looked shocked, as if he couldn't believe such a thing could happen in his territory.
However, beads of sweat were forming inside him.
"Damn it! That body isn't completely dead! And the reason my spell was destroyed wasn't because someone sabotaged it, but because it was destroyed by that awakened Ancient God!"
The man's silence was interpreted by some as anxiety, and someone offered words of comfort.
"Don't worry, as long as the Ancient God hasn't descended into this world and come into contact with its laws, there's still a chance to salvage the situation."
The man feigned being comforted, forcing a smile.
"That's right. As long as the Ancient Gods haven't descended upon this world, there's still room for redemption."
But just then, the witch hidden in the cracks of time spoke, her voice filled with doubt.
"You haven't done something foolish, have you, you brat from the Leorosa family?"
"I must make something clear to you. The return of the Ancient Gods is no joke. The rulers won't intervene. You know how many people will die in the world, don't you?"
The blond man patted his chest, earnestly guaranteeing.
"Of course I know, Lady Vivian. Rest assured, I will absolutely not allow an Ancient God to appear in my territory."
Vivian snorted coldly at him, ignoring his words. But just as she was about to say something more about the situation, Vivian seemed to have discovered something terrifying; her eyes suddenly narrowed, and she left everyone with a single sentence:
"Get out of here!"
After saying this, Vivian slid downstream along with time itself, fleeing the scene.
The very instant she vanished.
A long, drawn-out sigh, without warning, echoed in the strange room.
Everyone heard the sigh and immediately frowned. This was a space they had created; how could a stranger's voice possibly come from here? Several gazes followed the source of the sigh, all turning towards Vivian's bench.
In there, a man sat.
He wore a magic robe and a monocle over his right eye. His posture was relaxed, his face showing regret, as if lamenting the premature departure of a brilliant play's protagonist.
"Sigh..." He gently shook his head, his voice as gentle as if chatting casually.
"I say, gentlemen, how come Miss Time Witch runs so fast?" He tilted his head slightly, a smile playing on his lips.
"Do I... look that frightening?"
"Run!"
This thought exploded in everyone's minds. Without words, without making eye contact, the moment the man's last syllable fell, the entire room was left with only him, sitting alone on the solitary bench. The man sighed.
"How did you feel about time rewinding five seconds?" Language is merely communication; communication contains deception, and deception contains truth and falsehood. Time rewinding five seconds is true.
Language deceived time.
Concepts were distorted, logic forcibly suppressed. The invisible time flowing within the room, like silk being grasped by a giant hand, groaned under its strain and suddenly rolled backward!
The departing figures were like footage forcibly shoved back into a rewinding videotape, irresistibly dragged back! Only the certain Time Witch didn't return.
The man saw the smiles on the faces of those who had sat down again.
"Alright, dear friends," he said lightly, as if inviting them to a tea party, "Since everyone is here for now… how about…"
"Let's play a game?"
Under the silent, heavy gazes of everyone, the man grinned.
"This game is called The Hero's Adventure."
After saying this, the man looked around; the others seemed to be waiting for him to speak.
Time ticked by, but the man paid no attention.
Finally, Xia Yin spoke, "Lysed, what do you want to do?"
Hearing someone finally speak, Ute was visibly happier.
"Nothing much, just wanted to play a game with you guys. A very simple game, isn't it?"
"The rules couldn't be simpler," he held up a long, slender finger, "If the chosen hero successfully completes this adventure..."
His finger slowly traced across the group present.
"Then, congratulations—the price is the life of one of you."
Then, his tone changed, "Of course... if that poor hero fails..."
"Then, as punishment, every single one of you here will... disappear."
"How about that? Fair and simple, right? Hmm?"
Ute spread his hands as if to welcome their praise for his idea.
Even after hearing these words, no one dared to speak; they kept their eyes tightly shut.
A single sentence echoed in their minds:
Don't communicate with him.
Don't look at him.
Don't approach him.
Don't listen to him.
Don't touch anything about the other person!
Only then can you guarantee you'll remain yourself.
Ute said with a bored expression, "How boring. You people are so dull. Xia Yin is much better. Unlike your companions, they're like this, haha, forming some kind of alliance is truly..."
"—Laugh."
"You've completely disgraced your seniors!"
—
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